General News Thread

[leicsmac]

Taken to watching Reuters news mostly these days. 

 

Would recommend, one of the very few that just reports the news, rather than any kind of commentary with bias on it. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

32 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

Tbh if somebody has the get up and go to make their way across two seas on dinghies and across Europe, with almost no means of help, they deserve a job. That's the sort of gumption and effort we need in our labour force. 

Could you imagine most (obviously not all) teenagers if pestilence, famine or civil war broke out here?

 

They'd ride their e-scooter a few hundred metres and wonder why they haven't got WiFi signal.

[Spudulike]

2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Taking that as rote for a moment...

 

I wonder if that bloke needs to be turned off and on again, what exactly needs to be done with other blokes involved in the democratic political process that either infer or flat out state that entire demographics of people are at best second class citizens and at worst subhuman, and are clearly willing to let the future burn for the sake of their own gain in the present?

I think the UK and the world needs turning off and back on again.

[leicsmac]

Just now, Spudulike said:

I think the UK and the world needs turning off and back on again.

On that I emphatically agree. 

 

Also, it would be better if we could do that ourselves as a species while having some element of control over the process, rather than it being taken pretty much out of our hands. Which it could well be, sometime soon. 

[MaidstoneFox]

2 hours ago, CornwallFox said:

Tbh if somebody has the get up and go to make their way across two seas on dinghies and across Europe, with almost no means of help, they deserve a job. That's the sort of gumption and effort we need in our labour force. 

I once taught a girl who had walked all the way across Europe from Eastern Turkey. She had learn English almost perfectly in two years and was a dedicated, hardworking A Level student. She would have been a valued member of any society.

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, Spudulike said:

I think the UK and the world needs turning off and back on again.

 

2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

On that I emphatically agree. 

 

Also, it would be better if we could do that ourselves as a species while having some element of control over the process, rather than it being taken pretty much out of our hands. Which it could well be, sometime soon. 

To quote a great line written by Graham Linehan...

 

"Trans-ge..."

 

(Trav Le Bleu is turn off and...)

[Salisbury Fox]

3 hours ago, CornwallFox said:

Tbh if somebody has the get up and go to make their way across two seas on dinghies and across Europe, with almost no means of help, they deserve a job. That's the sort of gumption and effort we need in our labour force. 

Effort and gumption is great and I agree we could certainly benefit from more of that in our work force.  However, it doesn’t automatically make someone an economic asset, particularly when you balance those with that drive against those that don’t and those that participate in organised criminal enterprises.

[leicsmac]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1d0qwx5z2vo

 

The latest politicking while people are about to go hungry. 

[Jattdogg]

18 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

The Andrew formally known as Prince.

Basically he has been told to go into hiding whilst King Charlie pays his bills.

 

Man should be donated to prison so they could perform human scientific studies on how some men don't sweat during intercourse. 

[deep blue]

20 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

We certainly know they are mostly male, and mostly adult male.  We know roughly half (so far) are eventually granted asylum, and in the meantime they are housed, clothed and fed by the taxpayer.  Anecdotally, a lot are working illegally too, supporting rideshare etc industries.

 

Since January 2018, three-quarters (75%) of small boat arrivals have been adult males aged 18 and over. Almost one-sixth (16%) of detected small boat arrivals have been children aged 17 and under. These proportions have generally been similar each year; however, in the first 6 months of 2025, only 10% of detected small boat arrivals were children. 

 

How many people come to the UK irregularly? - GOV.UK

The. Can you tell me what's the source of that info?

[Trav Le Bleu]

11 hours ago, Salisbury Fox said:

Effort and gumption is great and I agree we could certainly benefit from more of that in our work force.  However, it doesn’t automatically make someone an economic asset, particularly when you balance those with that drive against those that don’t and those that participate in organised criminal enterprises.

Good point. I'd forgotten that illegal immigrants are mostly criminals 

[Salisbury Fox]

3 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Good point. I'd forgotten that illegal immigrants are mostly criminals 

Sigh, that’s not what I said.

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, Salisbury Fox said:

Sigh, that’s not what I said.

Then my apologies.

 

Interesting item on BBC Breakfast on a study of the statistics comparing crime by native British people and foreign nationals in the UK and, much as any sensible person would expect, it's pretty much the same percentage.

[leicsmac]

2 hours ago, Salisbury Fox said:

Sigh, that’s not what I said.

Of course, but given there's so many blatant dog-whsitle inferences followed by "that's not what I said" going round on this matter right now, some folks clearly have rather had enough of people thinking they're clever by hiding their bigotry behind reasonably shallow innuendo. 

[st albans fox]

7 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Good point. I'd forgotten that illegal immigrants are mostly criminals 

 

3 hours ago, Salisbury Fox said:

Sigh, that’s not what I said.

In my pedantic mode, surely an illegal immigrant is by definition a criminal at some level  ? 
 

maybe we need more words 😄

 

[davieG]

Newswatch

This week, is BBC News giving too much priority to violent crimes committed by asylum seekers and foreign nationals?

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002lxs1/newswatch-01112025

[BigGibbo]

On 29/10/2025 at 23:06, Trav Le Bleu said:

 

It's the last thing they wanted since the one thing they didn't want to happen!

Their dedication to scoring own goals and marching on towards the next ****up as if nothing happened is almost admirable.

[BigGibbo]

On 30/10/2025 at 06:42, Salisbury Fox said:

I believe that you are underestimating how many would apply. Every embassy would be overwhelmed.

 

This. There are 4 or 5 billion people, give or take a billion, in the world whose lives would be materially improved simply by being on benefits in the UK. The idea that the handful of successful people that are still yet to do a runner can afford to pay for them all as well as our own is for the birds.

 

Remove the benefits and incentives from all, but the most necessary cases, institute an element of quality control at the border, and the problem will solve itself.

 

I believe the so-called elites that run the country have realised this privately and have basically annointed Farage as the 'pressure valve' and the person who can row back some of their mistakes without them having to take any responsibility. Hence the apparent C-change with regards to Farage and Reform in the establishment press in the last 12 months or so and why Farage has started to concede on some of the establishment non-negotiables which has led to the more extreme types like Lowe and the Advance UK crowd parting ways.

 

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, BigGibbo said:

 

This. There are 4 or 5 billion people, give or take a billion, in the world whose lives would be materially improved simply by being on benefits in the UK. The idea that the handful of successful people that are still yet to do a runner can afford to pay for them all as well as our own is for the birds.

 

Remove the benefits and incentives from all, but the most necessary cases, institute an element of quality control at the border, and the problem will solve itself.

 

I believe the so-called elites that run the country have realised this privately and have basically annointed Farage as the 'pressure valve' and the person who can row back some of their mistakes without them having to take any responsibility. Hence the apparent C-change with regards to Farage and Reform in the establishment press in the last 12 months or so and why Farage has started to concede on some of the establishment non-negotiables which has led to the more extreme types like Lowe and the Advance UK crowd parting ways.

 

As much as the first bolded part is true here, that and the second appears to accept the death and suffering of a great many people - perhaps numbering in the aforementioned billions - as a fait accompli that cannot be stopped.

 

Now, if folks think that kind of social Darwinism is acceptable, that's between them and their own consciences, but I'm not sure how well history looks upon people who let a great many other people die, when there was even the slimmest chance of saving at least some of them. 

[BigGibbo]

Just now, leicsmac said:

As much as the first bolded part is true here, that and the second appears to accept the death and suffering of a great many people - perhaps numbering in the aforementioned billions - as a fait accompli that cannot be stopped.

 

Now, if folks think that kind of social Darwinism is acceptable, that's between them and their own consciences, but I'm not sure how well history looks upon people who let a great many other people die, when there was even the slimmest chance of saving at least some of them. 

 

It's not about accepting anything other than what is possible in reality. You either accept that it is not possible to house billions more people or you don't, but reality is still reality. 

 

How would you decide how many of the untold billions we can take and which ones? Surely if you accept we could not possibly take them all, then all we are arguing about is where you draw the line and who you turn away?

[Salisbury Fox]

4 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Of course, but given there's so many blatant dog-whsitle inferences followed by "that's not what I said" going round on this matter right now, some folks clearly have rather had enough of people thinking they're clever by hiding their bigotry behind reasonably shallow innuendo. 

I’m sure there are people who hide bigotry behind a thin veneer of respectability and it should be rightly called out. I don’t however see how a point about the economics of high immigration can be construed as such. Feel free to browse through my posting history if you doubt my intentions. I have been consistently making the point about the economics of high migration, illegal and legal, that I feel is even more pertinent now given the lack of growth and increasing demand. 

[leicsmac]

12 minutes ago, BigGibbo said:

 

It's not about accepting anything other than what is possible in reality. You either accept that it is not possible to house billions more people or you don't, but reality is still reality. 

 

How would you decide how many of the untold billions we can take and which ones? Surely if you accept we could not possibly take them all, then all we are arguing about is where you draw the line and who you turn away?

Little bit of a false dilemma there where there is a possible solution; rather than accepting them "all" to migrate, would be to supply the help they need, geopolitical and otherwise, to not have to migrate anymore.

 

Of course, if you don't address the root cause of such matters then things play out exactly as you say and it comes down to where the line is drawn, but I don't think things have to be that way when a possible solution does exist.

 

1 minute ago, Salisbury Fox said:

I’m sure there are people who hide bigotry behind a thin veneer of respectability and it should be rightly called out. I don’t however see how a point about the economics of high immigration can be construed as such. Feel free to browse through my posting history if you doubt my intentions. I have been consistently making the point about the economics of high migration, illegal and legal, that I feel is even more pertinent now given the lack of growth and increasing demand. 

I don't doubt your intentions and we've chatted a bit about various topics here before.

 

However, I would forgive people for being a bit willing to jump at remarks that they think might resemble what is described above when we are in a time where such remarks are not only widespread, but the people making them are in power and shaping political policy while gaslighting people into thinking they're not doing it in the name of the aforementioned bigotry. 

[Lionator]

Just reading about Yitzhak Rabin who was assassinated 30 years ago today. Seems like we could be living in a completely different world if that event didn’t happen 

[BigGibbo]

7 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Little bit of a false dilemma there where there is a possible solution; rather than accepting them "all" to migrate, would be to supply the help they need, geopolitical and otherwise, to not have to migrate anymore.

 

Of course, if you don't address the root cause of such matters then things play out exactly as you say and it comes down to where the line is drawn, but I don't think things have to be that way when a possible solution does exist.

Is it though? How much help do you expect that to take? Do you think we can provide it all?

 

And what happens when the world goes to hell in a basket through no fault of our own? Do we just accept everybody onto our lifeboat even though we know it will sink it and all go down together?

 

I'm not suggesting we shouldnt do our fair share and we definitely should stop playing any further part in destabilising such places, but there is only so much we can do.

 

Especially at a point when getting onto most people here are already approaching breaking point. Going forward the best of us can no longer afford to have kids and the only ones that will are those that accept a life on benefits and shoulder no/or only partial financial responsibility for raising them at the expense of the rest of us. It's no longer a tenable situation.

 

Apologies, after that performance earlier I had to sojourn to the pub, so hopefully I'm still coherent.

 

[leicsmac]

11 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Just reading about Yitzhak Rabin who was assassinated 30 years ago today. Seems like we could be living in a completely different world if that event didn’t happen 

Definitely a sliding doors moment. Anyone would have been hard-pressed to cut through the terrible tribal enmity in that corner of the world, but he seemed to the closest to at least deriving something of a solution for it.